Tuesday, November 15, 2011

It's pretty clear from this story, that the Bonamici campaign doesn't know all the players.

Did Big Unions pay for the hatchet job? The question was asked, but the campaign manager for Bonamici didn't answer anything. Ask her a question. You get a question.

Is this the transparency you were hoping for? I'm not impressed with either the non-answers, or the denials.

"The polling firm, Luce Research, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is making calls in the first Congressional District, in what are purported to be part of a voter preference poll.

"What starts out as a seemingly fair series of questions which is divided into three parts, each section asks questions about the acceptability, or un-acceptability, of positions held by the two congressional candidates, Susan Bonamici and Rob Cornilles. It isn’t until the third part of the survey occurs, that the real intent of the survey is revealed, the denigration of one of the candidates in that race, Rob Cornilles.

"What had been the suggestion of impartiality of polling questions is replaced with what is best known as “push-polling” questions, that tend to represent, or, in the case of Rob Cornilles’ candidacy, mis-represent, the views of the candidate, Mr. Cornilles, to show him in the worst possible light.

"The final section of the poll is spent mis-representing the Republican candidate, Rob Cornilles, as being anti-feminist, anti-employment, a pro-crony capitalist, and, as a Tea Party radical.

"None of which positions, from what we can ascertain, are true.

"Contact was made with Bonamici campaign Manager Carol Butler, but the questions of whether or not the campaign had hired Luce Research, or whether or not the campaign had conducted push research was answered with questions about whether or not such activities had occurred. She never clearly issued a denial.

"It is possible that outside firms may be responsible for these phone survey calls. But the Bonamici campaign refused to point out whether or not these calls were performed by such outside groups, or what outside committees.

“'Whoever is behind this, this is dirty, divisive politics at its worst and offensive to Oregon voters…' said Mary Anne Ostrom, Cornilles campaign manager."

The polling firm, Luce Research has not returned our calls.

When asked, Senator Betsy Johnson stated, “Are you surprised that they are using push-polling?”

Monday, November 14, 2011

It was balanced at first, and then, when the pollster asked if I wanted to discontinue the poll, I iterated that I would continue.

I'm glad I did. The following questions were invective raised against congressional candidate Rob Cornilles.

Susan Bonamici is engaging in unscrupulous campaign tactics. The charges raised by this phone call were wrong, deliberately wrong, and intentionally misleading. It is an act of poisoning the well.

The polling firm, Luce Associates, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is making calls in the first Congressional District, in what are purported to be part of a voter preference poll.

What starts out as a seemingly fair series of questions which is divided into three parts, each section asks questions about the acceptability, or un-acceptability, of positions held by the two congressional candidates, Susan Bonamici and Rob Cornilles. It isn’t until the third part of the survey occurs, that the real intent of the survey is revealed, the denigration of one of the candidates in that race, Rob Cornilles.

What had been the suggestion of impartiality of polling questions is replaced with what is best known as “push-polling” questions, that tend to represent, or, in the case of Rob Cornilles’ candidacy, mis-represent, the views of the candidate, Mr. Cornilles, to show him in the worst possible light.

The final section of the poll is spent representing the Republican candidate, Rob Cornilles, as being anti-feminist, anti-employment, and pro-crony capitalist. And, as a Tea Party radical.

None of which positions, from what we can ascertain, are true.

At this moment, the Cornilles campaign has no comment. The polling firm, Luce Research and, the Bonamici campaign has not returned our calls.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

The world, in the 1930's, was entirely different from the world we face today. The intercontinental railroad had its first intercontinental railroad completed in 1869. Just twenty years earlier, Morse code was developed, shortening, again, intercontinental distances. (The first intercontinental that worked, was laid in 1866.)

So, in the 1930's, the first rules of wired and wireless communication were adopted. In 1934, the Communications Act was passed. Here is where I adopt a statist solution. Wireless transmission occurs because there are parts of the Spectrum that are good for different things. Some spectra are better suited for light emission. Some spectra are better suited for radio transmission. Without regulation of spectra usage, some of the benefits of electronic communication would be lost in a hash of noise. Imagine road builders without a regulator. Anyone can build a road, at any place, at any time, at any location. I own fifty acres, want to build homes and decide to put my roads in without any sense of current traffic patterns. I may rate my new roads as "safe" and/or "dangerous," but the fact is, some roads should not be built. It's why we pay governments. To regulate certain activities. With radio communications, which include television, communication links that you may not be aware of (since you don't own a receiver on those frequencies), fire and weather signals, and wireless internet, imagine a world where anyone could build a transmitter on any frequency chosen, without any central coordination.

The Spectrum also is used by such things as radar. If you fly, you would want to know that the part of the spectrum that is used by radar isn't being used simultaneously by an entrepreneurial broadcaster. Attempting to play his (or her) idea of socially conscious radio. Without some type of agreed upon regulation, spectra could be used that can kill others. As we move into adopting greater applications of digital media, the use of spectra increases, and there are definite advantages to adopting digital technologies. For one, digital technologies that make sense require less bandwidth. The usable Spectrum, being limited, is being challenged for use by alternative technologies, some of which haven't even been created.

It was an attempt to both exceed the capabilities of the system, and an attempt to further the idea that centrally controlled information was better than that of its constituent parts. An example:

On March 11th, of this year, a Tsunami Warning was issued for the West Coast. The warning was issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. What most of us know of as, the weather guys. Under the rules of NOAA, the warning was issued once.

That was sufficient. At that point, radio stations and television stations across the country were informed of an impending tsunami event. Television and radio stations turned their eyes and ears on the forthcoming, possible disaster, and began sharing with their viewers and listeners information on the dangers of the impending tsunami. In my home town, the tsunami was predicted to occur between 0725 and 0730 hours. Until 0720 hours, we retained control of our studios, which were locate on the possible tsunami zone. We transmitted information about the possible size and intensity of the potential event, up to the edge of personal threat. (During past tsunami events, given the source and intensity of the event, we've maintained studio presence up to and including the estimated time of event.)

Two thoughts occur; one, privately owned broadcasters gave the most, current, usable information in the market, for the longest period of time possible, free; second, we used current, contemporaneous information in the pursuit of providing our listeners, or viewers, the greatest possible amount of information available, again, at no cost. This is why the effort to provide a national Emergency Event Activation is a horse with no legs. Market forces will determine whether or not the radio or television station you're listening or watching is worth listening or watching.

Because, responsible operators will make sure that the mission of either a television station or radio station is, to serve the community interest. And somehow, kids, the imminent destruction of ones local community seems to be of paramount importance.

I've been through a couple of wars. The last two, which involved the Middle East, were well carried by all of my broadcast stations. For those of you who forget, following the decision to correct the Iraq invasion into Kuwait, my stations went to a wartime footing, with twenty-four hour coverage of events in the Middle East. Were we required to do so? No.

Then, after 9/11, we had the invasion of Afghanistan. Again, twenty-four hour coverage. Required? No.

Then the invasion of Iraq.

Can you guess what happened? Of course you can. People want information, and under the Rules promulgated in the 1930's, broadcasters are required to provide information in the "community interest." But if you had a television station, or radio station, would you ignore the perils facing your community? People love information, and the internets aside, there are only two mediums suited to provide you with local information, twenty-four hours a day; television and radio. Television and radio have the resources, the connectivity and the reliability to provide you with the information you need, now. The attempt to impose a centrally produced "message" was idiotic at its inception. Broadcasters, whether television or radio, know what their responsibilities are. In the past week I've spent more than twenty hours of my personal time in the last week, preparing for this national event. Should it have worked? Prolly not. It would have been faster to have called press conference. Or, sent an e-mail to some folks. Who would have called other folks.

The desire to demand compliance from the broadcast community is comic. Since using the community is easier than that attempted today. If you have a message, you announce the message. As the wire conveys the message, the message is promulgated. Independent broadcasters do the independent thing; determine whether or not the message is important to the local area, or not. If important, live people with real cameras and microphones get on air and talk. If not? It may make an item on the evening or morning news. There are filters. Important? On air. Unimportant? Mebbe mentioned.

That, my friends, is the marketplace of ideas. What is important is forwarded. Can you guess what is not forwarded? (The unimportant. You should have said it. I wouldn't have.)

Broadcasters, whether television or radio, know that they have a responsibility. That it is part of the original Communications Act isn't important. Broadcasters have a contract, unspoken, with their viewers, listeners. We will provide you with information that you need, when the information becomes available.

Inside the game, we all have upgraded our equipment in the last ten months (recently extended into next year) in order to provide viewers/listeners with emergency information. Inside the game, there aren't any audio engineers available to the United States national government, or the Federal Communication Commission who understand audio propagation. This was a cluster**** of the first order. It would have been cheaper, quicker and easier to have alerted "the media" of an important announcement. Your broadcasters would have been involved, given personal and local treatment of the announcement, and more importantly, done it without the intrusion of selected believes of what would be important to my viewers/listeners. Not everything important at the "national" level is important locally. Remember, the Communications Act of 1934 had a dual purpose: an understanding that there was limited spectrum for radio use; and that the use of that spectrum, as limited by the limits of the available spectra, should be the service of the communities provided service by the use of that spectra.

Few broadcasters argue the point.

But what we've seen today.

And, then comes the feedback.

Los Angeles
What we received was very noisy, hardly intelligible and cut in and out,
basically useless! Then at the end, the long tail of dead air....
Colorado
Sage units (all four) decided not to send the audio out. The test was
triggered just no audio. No Audio Limit. ABORT was on the message display.
Alabama
We were listening to the PEP and never heard it there.
Buffalo
Aired the alert tones, but NO audio! Was that way from the LP-1 station.
Rochester
Both stations received the test, along with the audio, it went flawless
there. No report on audio quality.
South LA
On air from the transmitter plant was a lot more than noise and low audio
issues. The recording itself cut out a couple times played half way though
then restarted, playing half way through again till it cut out and went to
dead air. All during the message we received control tones over the message,
seems their audio and control was stuck in a loop or something.
Indiana
very noisy, hardly intelligible and cut in and out.
Illinois
Got the whole EAS message, with tones, IN SPANISH!!!!
St. Louis
repeating audio and tones which made it quite a mess.

The rules require broadcasters to report today, the impact of the national test. But for hours, the FCC website was broken. And these are the guys who are attempting to take over control of the internet.

Some things don't need to be controlled. Spectrum usage? Sure. Content? Nope. Although, the FCC is creating rules to control content. What is the role of government? Is it to control content? or, to manage those things that governments are uniquely qualified to control? What should a television station, or radio station, carry over it's signal? Should that content be controlled by the federal government, or its agency, the FCC? Increasingly, the FCC is working to control content. I would suggest, it is signally unable to do so. It's mission, to regulate the use of spectra.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

We will need more loyal supporters like yourself to help elect a common sense problem solver to the White House- Please let your friends know about our campaign, the "9-9-9 Plan," and how important it is to keep our momentum going.

Remember, time is short! The critical Iowa Caucuses are scheduled for January 3, 2012
Contributions to Friends of Herman Cain are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. Friends of Herman Cain is required to report the name, address, occupation, and employer of each individual who contributes.

Contributions to Friends of Herman Cain are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. Friends of Herman Cain is required to report the name, address, occupation, and employer of each individual who contributes.

At the moment I made my contribution tonight, Herman Cain's Iowa Fund was at $243-thousand dollars.

Lend yourself to Mr. Cain. And report what level you find.

I'm not looking for Teh Won. I'm looking for a guy, who came from the American Stew, who took advantage of his education, who proved himself, and fixed a company. These are special tasks.

Some of you have heard of Joseph Campbell. The tasks of the Hero are pretty well defined.

"So let us review these basic things that we get from the Hero figure as presented by Joseph Campbell. First, the relevance of the Hero now; not the Hero myth, but myth itself is the Hero. In its liberating capacity, "the work of the Hero," says Campbell, "is to slay the tenacious aspect of the Father/Dragon/Ogre/King, and release the vital energies that will feed the Universe." To slay the Ogre, the reactionary aspect of the senex who promotes fear, sterility, poverty of children, the paranoid, suspicious, deceitful, illegitimate King and the nobles of the Court living in their gated communities (already having locked themselves up or committed themselves to the separated asylum of insanity, and with megalomaniac intentions) use the language of the legitimate Hero to free the world from Evil when they are themselves carriers of lies, cruelty and death."

I'm free here, to admit, that I never saw the election of Barrack Obama as playing any type of role within the Hero Myth. I'm a lot more two-dimensional. Where did Barrack Obama come from? Compare and contrast, where Herman Cain came from. Sure, Barrack Obama's mom was a pet of the upper-class, jetting around for college, meeting a swarthy Othello, creating a mythic son. All true, except for the mythic hero's feet of clay. "Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces." (Daniel 2:34.)

Name me a recent, conservative, nationally known politician who was attacked by the Press. Name me a recent, Leftist, nationally known politician who was attacked by the Press.

Shit. Leftists don't get attacked by the Press. Did you hear the recent crazy by former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi and Boeing? Then, did you hear about the new plant GE is building? No? Crazy former Speaker of the House Pelosi offers, that Boeing should not be able to build a plant in a Right to Work state. At the same time Obama crony Jeff Immelt is building a plant in Auburn, Alabama. Did you ever ask the question, why is okay for GE to build in a right-to-work state, and wrong for Boeing?

I don't get it. I was accused of some "sexual" thing back in the '90's. A chump who worked for me wasn't happy that I gave increased hours on-air to a recent hire. A young woman of pipes. I can't remember any of their names. But the young lady, who was just 19 years old, had the stuff. God gave her chords. She could tell you the time, and you were glad you were there to hear it was just after eleven o'clock. Chump was a space filler. No talent, no desire to improve. Place-sitter. (This was in 1990, sometime after April, when I'd been hired to take over the operations of a company that had reverted ownership. The previous ownership had hired anyone breathing. My job was to re-create a successful broadcast company.)

When I let Chump go, Lia (?) took over his hours on board. His hours were cut. Effectively, let go. And that's when I found that he had filed a complaint with the Bureau of Labour and Industries, alleging that I had cut his hours, due to sexual favours I received from the new hire. Imagine opening that letter.

The first call; counsel. But, I don't pay attorneys to go to school. Second call? BOLI. And the question I asked was, "Is it true, if ever asked, 'have you ever been accused of sexual mis-conduct?' I must now answer, yes?"

The answer is yes. I've been accused of sexual misconduct at the workplace. What happens if there is ever a repeat? Well, hell, I'm a serial offender! I'm sure there's another Level of Hell for serial sex offenders. Any jury would convict. We're trained that way. First time, shame on me. Second time, shame on you.

Charges only need be repeated to gain a level of general acceptance. Sarah Palin is a bimbo, because she is beautiful, articulate, has a Northern accent, went to U of I, was successful as a politician, a Governor of a state, and smart enough to get out, when the getting was good. Herman Cain is a Black Man, possibly a Mandingo, hitting on employees, unwilling to present himself--as does Romney--a polished trimmer, simple, honest and direct.

This is why I gave the $200.00.

It isn't a lot of money. It is an encouragement.

How do you lynch a Black Man? Today, it is with innuendo and rumour. None of the facts about our current President are ever reported. Black Panthers? Not reported. Chicago radicals? Not reported. His pastor? Not reported. His complete disregard for working men and women who aren't government employees or union members? Not reported. His disdain for hard work? Are you kidding me? But, Herman Cain, who had an employee(s) who went south? Well hell, boy! We don't even need a new rope!

I heard Kudlow tonight repeat erroneous information on his show. I wasn't really surprised. Following this story requires time. And busy folks, like Kudlow, deal with the information in front of them. I don't blame Kudlow for following the meme. And I'm sure, his producers don't have the same conviction of chasing the truth, as does Kudlow. But I would suggest, maybe it's time for Kudlow to look for more hard-working producers.

Anytime a producer deliberately keeps talent in the dark, that's a firing offense.

Kudlow was underserved tonight. But, for a company owned by Jeffrey Immelt, entirely understandable.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

I happen to believe that we are meant to work together.

I happen to believe, that if we were to find ourselves without government, due to some unseen cataclysmic event, that most of us would behave exactly as we had behaved, before this cataclysmic event. We wouldn't steal, we wouldn't lie. We would look our for each other. We would talk about how to handle the aftermath of such a cataclysmic event. We would bind up the wounds of the injured, and attempt to heal the sick.

The divisions that currently divide us would disappear. Our racism, class awareness, our bias against the stupid, our envy of the smart, looking stylish, nerdiness, inability, ability, would all be subsumed by the moment. Every one of us offers a resource that we cannot dismiss out of hand. As a race of beings our urge is to survive, to create, to find ways to be beneficial to our contemporaries.

A great deal of the negativity of political opinion seems to rely upon some of the seminal works of progressivism; works like The Prince, and The Leviathan, or An Essay on the Principle of Population. That is, to simply state the proposition, progressives have declared a space on the human experience that has never been proved to be true, and yet the proponents of these beliefs have always ended up being among the greatest mass, serial murderers of generations. But, when left, simply, alone, people get along just fine.

Edmund Burke wrote some stuff. At the time, what he wrote was seen as threatening to the status quo. What he said was, that given our own head, we would treat each other well, and the problem was, how to keep government from meddling in the affairs of men? You and I experience this every day. Walking along a sidewalk, most of us give way to little old men and little old women. When we come to a door, look behind us and see another coming, we're willing to hold the door for a stranger. If you walk your dog, you know to keep a baggy in your pocket, since relying upon your neighbor to clean up your dog's poop is really silly, lazy, or rude, isn't it? And these little things are the things upon which people rely upon each other to do the simple, right thing.

The empirical proof exists. It's provable every day. In Connecticut, more than a million homes lack electricity. Is there a crime-wave rolling through CT? No. Cataclysms don't change human nature. Instead, it re-enforces human nature. Neighbors are pulling out chainsaws, cutting trees, clearing electrical lines. The costs of rebuilding the electrical system of Connecticut isn't the sole expense of the power company. A lot of the costs are being absorbed by normal, average guys. Hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars are being expended, in time and labour. A lot of that time and labour is voluntary, and won't be counted in the cost. No insurance company will get a bill. No governmental agency will be called upon for re-embursement. The costs are internal costs. The external costs will be played up, the internal costs will be ignored. The point is, we do what we feel we must do to help our friends and neighbors, not because we must, but because we choose.

From what I see, most of what government spends money on is stuff we don't need.

What do we need?

I don't hear any discussion of what we need. Not health care, not our sexual tastes, not respect for stupid ideas. We have health care. We have sexual tastes. We have stupid ideas.

What are the things that we, ourselves, can't provide for ourselves? These are the things that governments should be worried about. Thankfully, the progressives have entered the conversation and now we're engaged in conversations about things we don't need, and the relative costs of those things, and how we can't stop funding those things because...it would be unfair to those who benefit from those things. Things we can provide for ourselves.

And we're currently in a national debate over which unnecessary things we can't give up. If you disagree with me about the things you lack, and therefore look to me to make up the slack, and if I look at you and the things you lack, and hold you accountable for your own inability to provide for yourself, you hate me for not giving you the things you want to have. Sometimes I wonder how, or whether, some people learn how to wipe themselves.

And, I guess, some people never learn how to do this.

The crustiness would be a clue for most.

Taking care of yourself isn't that hard. If you wish to learn, ask. You would be amazed at how easy it is to learn how to take care of yourself. Give me a call. I'll figure out a way to help you, give you some basics, give you a chance. It isn't a sure thing that you'll learn how to take care of yourself. You'll need to give up some ideas, perhaps, and adopt some ideas, perhaps. Learning how to take care of yourself isn't really all that hard. Trust someone to teach you, adopt the lessons, and then, exceed the expectations of the teacher. You'll find you're successful.

Take up victim-hood? Whatta path.

The funny thing is? You've got to be taught to be a victim. You have to be taught to depend upon others. You have to be taught to fear responsibility. And finally,
you have to be taught to hate.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

President Clinton, serial rapist, gets a pass for doing Monica because he's so dreamy.

Okay. I get the neo-feminist logic. As long as you promise you will love them forever, you get their vote.

Herm, talks to a woman, doesn't even step on her toes, and it's a national nightmare, again. Yet, when I talk about the law-breaking of Oregon's congressional candidates, it doesn't even earn a mention in the local newspaper.

Rob Cornilles has fully disclosed all of his contributions. See it here. His democrat opponents? Not a stitch.

As the Chief Executive, no company would ever allow for the lack of responsibility our current Chief Executive has demonstrated. Imagine any company, that failed to provide a budget for TWO FREAKING YEARS!!!

Budgets have been passed in the House. The Senate continues to refuse bringing these budgets up for a vote.

Our Chief Executive is a joke. Fortunately, for him, he has no idea how poorly he is performing. He is the World's Most Uninformed Executive.

Federal intrusion into state taxing authority is wrong. It isn't Constitutional. And, I can't come up with a single case where the Federal government has the authority, under the 16th Amendment, to roll back taxes imposed by a state. The Federal government, simply, doesn't have the authority to do what it is attempting to do. (Didn't bills have to come to the floor with a reference to the constitutionality of the measure?)

But, the sentiment is good. The sentiment is, if we tax a thing, the accessibility of the thing decreases.

Oregon is the worst state in the union in terms of understanding this reasonable statement. Okay, mebbe California is worse. The thing is, the Wireless Tax Fairness Act, is another example of federal over-reach. I applaud the Congress for having the ability to understand that taxes on communication are a form of restraint of speech. So...hmm. Maybe it is Constitutional. Maybe, this may be a pure power under the Interstate Commerce Clause.

Maybe, just maybe, congressional actions to protect an interstate commodity from local taxation is actually a power granted by the Constitution!

Imagine, legal acts of Congress, with bi-partisan support. End of days?

Personal preferences are important. It is your, or my, personal preference to either work, or not work, to manufacture or not, to farm or not, to fish or not.

These preferences are often put into terms like wages, since wages are normally related to in terms of the exchange of currency for labour. And dollars are really good yard-sticks. Some preferences defy logic. Some are logically consistent. What is important is to remember that whatever a person's preferences are, they are his. You cannot mandate acceptance of preferences that you feel another should have. A man can not repudiate that which he knows is true.